Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing Windows 10 June 2021 Document: Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing (Edition 1) Authors: J. Han, D. Wren Company: PassMark Software Date: 22 June 2021 Edition: 1 File: Norton_Game_Optimization_Testing_2021_Ed1.docx Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing PassMark Software Table of Contents REVISION HISTORY ............................................................................................................................................ 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................... 4 OVERALL SCORE ................................................................................................................................................ 5 PRODUCTS LIST ................................................................................................................................................. 6 TEST RESULTS.................................................................................................................................................... 7 PHASE 1 ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 PHASE 2 ....................................................................................................................................................... 15 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................. 17 SCENARIOS WHERE THERE WAS A BENEFIT .............................................................................................................. 17 SCENARIOS WHERE THERE WAS NO BENEFIT............................................................................................................ 17 DISCLAIMER AND DISCLOSURE ....................................................................................................................... 18 DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY................................................................................................................................... 18 DISCLOSURE ................................................................................................................................................... 18 TRADEMARKS ................................................................................................................................................. 18 CONTACT DETAILS........................................................................................................................................... 18 APPENDIX 1 – TEST ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................ 19 TESTING MACHINE .......................................................................................................................................... 19 TESTING GAMES ............................................................................................................................................. 19 APPENDIX 2 –METHODOLOGY DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................. 20 WINDOWS 10 IMAGE CREATION ......................................................................................................................... 20 GAME BENCHMARK TEST .................................................................................................................................. 20 TEST PHASE 1................................................................................................................................................. 20 TEST PHASE 2................................................................................................................................................. 21 Edition 1 Page 2 of 21 22 June 2021 Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing PassMark Software Revision History Rev Revision History Date Edition 1 Initial version of report 22 June 2021 Edition 1 Page 3 of 21 22 June 2021 Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing PassMark Software Executive Summary PassMark Software conducted objective performance testing of the Game Optimizer (GO) feature in the Norton 360 for Gamers product. The performance benchmark test consisted of two phases. The aim of the first phase was to test the effect of GO on various games, both on a clean install of Windows 10 (Phase 1.1) and also with background activity (Phase 1.2). The second phase (Phase 2) is to compare the Norton 360 for Gamers product with competing Anti-virus products, which also advertised similar game optimizing features. To test the game optimization performance, we selected five common PC games and used the games built-in benchmarks to measure the minimum, maximum and average FPS (frames per second) metrics. We ran some background tasks in parallel with the games to test the Norton GO game optimizing performance and we used a synthetic CPU load tool to produce a constant CPU consumption when comparing the Norton 360 for Gamers with the competitors’ products. We found that Norton GO improves frame rate performance in games in some scenarios. It is of particular benefit when there are high CPU usage activities running in the background during the game play and the CPU is creating a bottleneck. In comparison to similar anti-virus products, Norton 360 for Gamers performed the best in the product comparison. Further details are in the report below. Edition 1 Page 4 of 21 22 June 2021 Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing PassMark Software Overall Score PassMark Software assigned a score to each product we tested in the Phase 2 test, depending on its ranking of the average FPS metric compared to other products in the category. In the following table the highest possible score attainable is 30; in a hypothetical situation where a product has attained first place in all 5 games. The table below shows the products ranked by their overall scores:1 Product Name Overall Score Norton 360 for Gamers 30 Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers 20 ESET NOD32 Antivirus 17 McAfee Gamer Security 16 Kaspersky Total Security 11 Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 9 1 The Razer Cortex product was not included in the comparison as it did not contain any anti-virus functionality. Edition 1 Page 5 of 21 22 June 2021 Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing PassMark Software Products List The tested game optimization product names and versions are as follows: Product Name Version Norton 360 for Gamers 22.21.5.44 Razer Cortex 9.14.15.1361 McAfee Gamer Security 1.7.128 ESET NOD32 Antivirus 14.1.20.0 Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 25.0.21.78 Kaspersky Total Security 21.3.10.391 (b) Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers 9.0.30.75 Edition 1 Page 6 of 21 22 June 2021 Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing PassMark Software Test Results We performed two phases of testing. The results obtained from each phase test have been plotted on charts for ease of comparison. Phase 1 In the first stage of the Phase 1 test, we ran the frame rate benchmarks on a clean install of Windows 10 without Norton GO installed and also with the Microsoft Defender turned off. Then the test was repeated with the Norton GO active to compare the two results. No Background Task 46.82 Ghost Recon Wildlands 47.04 59.90 Sleeping Dogs 59.90 59.00 Forza Horizon 4 59.00 35.00 Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35.00 42.00 Far Cry 5 42.00 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Average FPS Norton GO not installed Norton GO installed Note that the above test was ran with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 graphic card, and subsequently we replaced the card with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and used the new graphic card for the remaining of the tests. This was done to remove the GPU as a significant bottleneck. Edition 1 Page 7 of 21 22 June 2021 Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing PassMark Software In the second stage of the Phase 1 test, we ran one or more third-party applications in parallel with the games. The types of background tasks were: • Downloading games on Steam • Chrome loading Web pages • Video encoding with Handbrake • Game recording with Game DVR • Chrome Cleanup computer • CPU stress with GBCPUStressTest These background activities produced different levels of CPU loads on the system while running games benchmarks. We ran the background tasks benchmarks with no Norton GO product installed (Microsoft Defender was turned off). Then the test was repeated with the Norton 360 for Gamers installed to test the effect of game enhancement feature of the Norton GO. We also ran the benchmarks with no background tasks, Norton GO not installed, and the Microsoft Defender turned off to produce a baseline. The average percentage increases in the average FPS metric achieved by the Norton GO are shown in the table: Shadow of the Forza Ghost Recon Background Tasks Far Cry 5 Sleeping Dogs Tomb Raider Horizon 4 Wildlands Downloading games on Steam 30.57% 13.77% 3.38% 5.15% 11.76% Chrome loading Web pages 0.35% 2.22% 0.86% 0.86% -0.21% Video encoding with Handbrake 40.69% 35.68% 13.75% 30.43% 24.61% Game recording with Game DVR 0.66% 0.69% 0.00% -0.54% 0.56% Chrome Cleanup computer 5.88% -3.13% 2.31% 3.10% 1.92% CPU stress with GBCPUStressTest 43.63% 19.09% 6.43% 10.75% 47.93% The Average Percentage Increases in the Average FPS by Norton GO Edition 1 Page 8 of 21 22 June 2021 Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization